Tag Archives: concept art

I don’t remember if I have ever made a post about the Starcraft 2 art book I had before, but now I am because I just beat the first expansion of the Starcraft 2 game series. Honestly, I did not appreciate it as much as I do now. I bought it because I found it on Ebay for a really good deal. And I always thought the artwork Blizzard produces has been some of my most inspirational and contemporary influences. I even have a very old Warcraft artbook from the first games, and you can see how much Blizzard has improved since.

There is a lot of irony in all this simply because back last November when I had gone to CTN Expo, I met a really cool artist there and he told me NOT to play games. Like, I’ve been told this countless of times, but actually, I didn’t listen. It’s not because I don’t value their opinions. I really didn’t plan to play. They told me that there are videos online that you could watch on youtube that has other people playing. However, sometimes, I get these urges that don’t go away till they are satisfied. I blame it on my genes because I think that my family may have addiction problems? And these are my addictions…? hahaha… I actually did stop playing a lot of games, and I only began to play again after graduating from college. I didn’t own any of the new game consoles, and I almost feel ridiculous saying this to a gamer as much as I hate telling bacon lovers or anyone that I hate bacon. (I know, I can hear the gasps from all around even through space.) Can’t really be called a gamer anymore if one stops playing?? There was one occasion a good friend of mine lent me his DS to play The World Ends With You, which is an all around fun and very interesting fun game to play! The mechanics on that is pretty neat not to mention good music. And I love good music!

But overall, I feel like I should start understanding games again, because I am too out-of-touch with the current games now. Like, what does a gamer actually look for when they play a game anyway? Maybe this is a bad thing that I think too much. I analyze too much. But actually, I would rather work for a company that thinks about its consumers a little more instead of creating stupid games that are just all design and no content. This is almost all too apparent. I appreciate good design, but I’d rather it have some quality in other areas too. But it also goes a lot to say, that at least companies know how to market and so they invest in good designers.

Also, a side note. I finally got a taste of Far Cry 3 and its really interesting..!

In essence, though, as I flipped through the book, I had a revelation, that although this book may have a lot of artwork — it is completely filled, front and back with art, this is probably only a quarter of the art they had to produce. Why? Well, as I played this game, there were so many units to memorize, so many building constructions to remember to build (not to mention, you need to remember what comes out of those constructions), and there are upgrades for almost a lot of those units and constructs. Plenty of characters, we all know Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan, and new additions like Tychus — who is helping me develop a southern accent, Arcturus, etc. Concept art for those guys!

The comments inside the book did say that the main focus of this first expansion was the Terrans. So there was more Terran art than there was Protoss or Zerg. I have yet to play the second expansion of this game, but I can only imagine the main focus of the next two games are going to be about each of the other two races. I’m guessing, but I need to play the next ones, ey?

My appreciation comes from the fact that since I now know these units better, such as what their role in the game is, the artwork makes more sense to me. The book itself has very little captions for all the pieces in here, in fact, it only gets wordy at the very beginning with the ‘foreword’ and introduction. Concept art is not about pretty art like regular fine art. Concept art is a solution to a question. What is this thing’s purpose? How does it function, and how does it serve the story? One should always ask this when one decides to create concept art. It’s just not all about the pretty little gadgets that you think makes it look cool. It’s aesthetic and its good design at the same time.

My midterm project. Still working on it though, technically, I can move on since I all ready turned it in. Still, lotta things here and there that need to be re-looked at, but welcome for any input too. The story is based off of Bearskin: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/101bearskin.html
So I think I will do his model packet as a side thing~ It’ll be awesome. I think the double claw aspect is bo-bomb. Yet I gotta ask, how the *%#$ will he wipe his @$$?? The things concept artists must think about… hahaha… j/k.

This is one of my midterms and something that I did over the course of 3 weeks. And one of the reasons why I don’t get decent sleep, but aside from that, I was not originally going to do an Orc, but I think Nightelves are over done. I get that they are hot and slender and beautiful though, so everyone wants to do them. I started to like Orcs more after doing this though, I love his hair/braids.

I wish I could do On-Model, but I could not find good references of Thrall’s back. The game itself does not include much detail. I tried to watch some of the movies on youtube, or in-game clips and it was so hard to see. I guess, I should actually go out and buy a goddamn official action figure, but I don’t know a Wizards of the Coast around here… Or do they sell it there? I imagine that is where it might be, but someone tell me this. Anyway, I found a guy who is a professional sculpture, so I took stock of his design, and sort of tried to update it, I guess. Well, my instructor for Digital Drawing the Fantastic Figure said he doesn’t really mind that it does not look exact, but if it were a portfolio piece, then it’d be iffy. Well, I honestly tried to look for good references, but it failed, so what can I do? I’m still interested in Blizzard’s summer internship….

I’m probably a little late to the game, but I’ve been looking into the concept art industry recently. Only that it just occurred to me how important I should apply what I learn in school to get what I need in my profession. It’s been sort of hard to find the right place, but I’m looking into Blizzard. And trying to improve my portfolio as much as I can so that I could be hired by a game company. I want to do Fantasy concept art, or sci-fi. I think it matches my personality more. I do realize there is a growing market for facebook games and such, but it does not interest me….

This poem talks about a man hitting a fork at a road. He’s standing there for some time trying to figure out which he should go to. There is a read that seems to be more downtrodden and seems to be worn out like a lot of people have walked on. And he knows that although it’d be nice to take both, there is only one he can choose because he won’t be looking back. In the end, he decides on the one less taken because although riskier, it can bring more insight. Anyway, my interpretation, and also a poem I learned in high school.

Tonight, I met a professional, working concept artist, Jason Felix. Truly enlightening. I’ve only found that attending these speaker events I begin to know what to do and where I’m going more clearly than if I am alone. They speak of wisdom and experience, and just know, understand what it’s like to be starting out. This was what I was missing when I was away and doing my online stuff. I notice, my disciplines seem much better than some, because of the modules and teaching method maybe I learned online is different? But its truly the experience of being in a competitive environment that brings you through. My family and friends need not worry about me too much as I’m slowly discovering myself here — alone, and yet not alone.

I also bought his art book, even though I had been contemplating on getting on of the Spectrum books. hahaha… But there were just so many, like 17 all ready. How do I know which I will benefit me more? Or if I’ll like them, or liking one more than the other. Too hard to know. But Jason’s stuff is pretty sick, I mean the good definition and the bad. All of the art in the book is like total mind-fuck, but he has some strange stuff…. I am so appalled by it that I had to have it in my collection of art books.

I was eating a rice ball, and my fingers are dirty and oily… eeee…. Smudgy fingers all over the cover now….

Anybody notice the name Jason? I think I need to change my name to Jason if I want to work for Massive Black. Jason Chan, Jason Manley…. Jason Felix…. Yeah?

In other news, I am working on a new character painting, Thrall ~ from Warcraft. Well, I was going to do nightelf, but I felt it wasn’t the right choice and that I didn’t know who I should do that would be familiar and I asked my Brother his opinion and he said Thrall was a popular character, and some other guys. Well, Thrall it was, because he has some nice set of braids. And even though he is an orc, he is pretty cool-looking.

This is for both my midterm, and to help my development for Blizzard’s internship. I wish I knew what they looked for in an intern, but I’m just groping in the dark right now.

I’m starting to like using Corel Painter 11. It’s less flashy than photoshop, but it’s got really neat brushes. For the swordsman, I used oil paint. The assassin I used acrylic, and the feeble old man, I used oil pastel. I also really like the color mixer; it’s like actually mixing paint. I feel a little blind when I choose colors in rgb and cmyk. It’s just not the same as real color mixing. And thanks to my oil painting classes, I like to mix up my colors a lot more, instead of a solid tint or shade. Because you can see color in everything if you squint your eyes.